The State of Massachusetts DSS took custody of 8,000 children last year from their families and placed them in Foster care. Warren Foster Care Case August 23, 2002 WARREN ABUSE
CASE SPARKS REVIEW OF DSS OFFICE For the 10 brothers, sisters, and cousins between the ages of 6 and 17, there apparently was no such thing as a safe place in the house on Bemis Road in the tiny Central Massachusetts town of Warren. A police report described in chilling detail a series of sexual assaults on the children by various family members. The charges ranged from pornography to molestation to rape. The allegations,
contained in a series of police interviews conducted
last year with the children, have led to the arrests
of five adults and spurred an investigation into the
management of a state Department of Social Services
regional office. Records show that, despite several
visits from a caseworker, DSS never aggressively
investigated the household - even though several
children complained to their friends, their
teachers, and even the caseworker. When viewed in hindsight, he said, the case file containing the allegations of abuse in the Warren home is horrifyingly obvious, but a caseworker may have overlooked the situation because the abuse was reported in increments. "What we're trying
to do is see the evidence through the eyes of [the
caseworker]," Spence said. "While you may not see a single smoking gun, you have a hell of a lot of gunfire," he said. According to the Worcester County district attorney's office, Phyllis Hopkins, 34, and her husband, Adam Hopkins, 38, are charged with multiple counts of child abuse between 1993 and 2001. Phyllis Hopkins's former husband, Robert Lloyd Sr., 35, her former brother-in-law, Albert Kurtigian Sr., 50, and Francis Dimo, 67, a friend of the family's, also have been charged in the case. All of the defendants have pleaded not guilty. Dimo is free on bail; his codefendants are being held on bail ranging from $25,000 for Kurtigian to $150,000 for Adam Hopkins. Meanwhile, a
200-page report compiled by Warren police through
interviews and statements described in stark,
graphic language a pattern of abuse within the
family that seemed to have become almost routine.
Abuse, humiliation, and sexual assaults occurred in virtually every room in the Bemis Road home, and continued when the family moved to Worcester, according to the report. In the living room, for example, the entire extended family - with children as young as 7 - would regularly gather to watch a pornographic videotape that featured graphic torture scenes; bathing suits allegedly were banned in the family pool; in "Andy's room," one man allegedly had sex regularly with his teenage stepdaughters while his wife was at work. Records show DSS was notified at least three times between 1993, when the case was opened, and 2001 when the children were removed. The police report details how the alleged victims told several friends, their friends' parents, and their teachers that they were being abused. After school one day, according to the report, a 13-year-old girl begged to sleep at a friend's home, telling her and others that her stepfather "had asked her to take off her clothes . . . and he was going to `get me,' " according to the report. When her aunt retrieved her and brought her home, the report stated, the stepfather choked the girl "until she blacked out." Though DSS has pledged to find out how the abuse continued for so long, one critic said it could be just the tip of the iceberg. Dr. Robert Abrams, who heads the committee on foster care for the Massachusetts Chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics, said DSS has too many cases, not enough caseworkers, and no clear mandate from the state to fix the problem. "This case, or a case like it, is going to happen again," Abrams said. "There's not enough oversight. Not just here, but throughout the system."
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